Frazzle

a) who said they haven't been given assurances over his future? b) even if they haven't, how the hell do you make the leap that they couldn't give a toss about Hughton? You think they are all going to hold off contract talks until he signs his deal? Maybe Taylor is doing this? Oh wait, no, he's just a money grabbing twat

Don't think he's really an upgrade and definitely not worth it.

Yep. A mid-table finish this season and I think we'd have the pulling power again to attract players to at least be where Everton & Villa have been in the next 2-3 years. There's a lot of money needed to reinforce the squad, but Carroll's looking more and more like the player you build a team around. He's exactly the player that both Villa and Everton would kill for. We'd find him pretty useful too. I just fear for you if injuries start kicking in. Us and Villa each have 11 injuries now. Can you imagine what your first team would look like in those conditions? It was scary enough when Tiote and Barton were missing. It's not like its 11 first teamers for Spurs though. Woodgate and King permanently injured and shouldn't be relied upon by anyone; dos Santos, Keane, Bentley, O'Hara, and even Jenas to an extent, aren't really first teamers. Through a combination of injury and suspension we've recently had out: Ben Arfa, Nolan, Tiote, Williamson, Coloccini, Barton, Harper and you may as well include Gosling and Ryan Taylor if you can include the likes of Woodgate.

The stupid thing is, Tottenham aren't even like Keegan's team in the attacking sense. They've scored the same amount of goals as us this season!

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/steve-stammers/Why-Harry-Redknapp-s-Tottenham-are-more-than-just-a-contemporary-version-of-Kevin-Keegan-s-Newcastle-entertainers-from-the-mid-nineties-The-Steve-Stammers-column-article641159.html Apparently there is more 'defensively' to Redknapp's team, which has never finished higher than fourth... He then goes on to say that Tottenham struggle to keep clean sheets but this is fine as no-one keeps clean sheets...

Bent: 'that's not the handbrake George...'

Well Maynard scored loads and didn't play for Newcastle. I wouldn't want him though. I don't know why, he's better than what we've got apart from Carroll. He'd just get ten minutes here and there like Ranger and wouldn't be able to make an impact. I've said it before but Hughton should've played Ranger and a few other more last season. He knew the budget would be small this season and should've know the likes of Ranger would play, last season was the perfect opportunity to give him some decent experience. That's getting off topic though...

Well Maynard scored loads and didn't play for Newcastle. I wouldn't want him though.

And when has he been fully fit and in good form? Considering the fact that he's played on in the past when he's needed operations he'll probably never be fit enough for a whole season. We should just play him when he's fit because he's a handful on those times. Blaming him for being lazy/shit when he's injured is a bit harsh IMO.

Shola was going to be rested on Sunday apparently and only played because Nolan pulled out. I think he should be judged when he's fully fit not when soldiering on with an injury.

You say this every time I agree though, he was best CB in the Champ last season after Colo. Taylor was as good as Colo in the first half of the season or, if not, pretty close. If he hadn't been injured he probably would've been in the team of year as well.

It's all in the bible.

In what way? He won't play if doesn't deserve to. It's not like the fans are clamouring for him to play every game pressuring the manager to play him, most on here seem to think he's shit.

Everyone else had turned it down, because of the influence that Shearer was allowed to wield around the club as the fans' hero and the future manager in waiting. It did for Robson and only a man who had no other options would put their career at risk like that. I would love to know who did turn it down - Steve Bruce seems pretty convinced that the job was his if he'd wanted it and I'm sure I read somewhere that Fat Sam was also offered it. Anyone else? I would think the brainless timing of SBR's sacking left the board with very few options. Managers didn't want to make the switch 4 games into a season with no time left to do anything in the transfer window - unless of course they were about to be sacked from their current job. O'Leary, O'Neill and Shearer were other names I've heard mentioned, but we'll never know the whole truth. But the main reason why Souness was appointed was Shepherd had run out of options. He sure did exhaust all options there then. I don't see how it's Shearer's fault that Shepherd couldn't look beyond a handful of managers.

I don't think he's worth 50k a week but then again I don't think Coloccini is worth 75k a week. Taylor is probably pissed off some players earn more but he's also got to appreciate Simpson, Williamson etc. will be on a pittance.

Well, yeah obviously I agree. I thought you were saying he wasn't top six standard yet? I was saying he's a that standard now.

A couple of years!? I think the 'top 6' have been put on a pedestral here, it's hardly the footballing gods and Bolton are there at the moment. There can only be a handful of players at most in the PL who are better than Tiote at his role, IMO, and therefore he has to be considered top 6 quality. He's only started 10 games man. He looks like a brilliant acquisition, but you can't just say he's one of the better holding players in the league. It takes at least a season of consistency to make a judgement like that. There's difference between saying he needs a few years to get to top 6 quality and saying he needs to prove he's consistent in playing to a top 6 standard though. I was arguing he is top 6 standard already, obviously if he doesn't keep this form up then you can't say he's that standard but from what I've seen of him he's good enough to play for a better team.

A couple of years!? I think the 'top 6' have been put on a pedestral here, it's hardly the footballing gods and Bolton are there at the moment. There can only be a handful of players at most in the PL who are better than Tiote at his role, IMO, and therefore he has to be considered top 6 quality.

Redknapp mixes and matches doesn't he? Palacios played the other day or was Huddlestone injured? I'd have Tiote over Palacios anyway. Either way, he's easily top 6, if not top 4.

Everyone else had turned it down had they?

I think he's top 6 quality easily, probably top 4 in that I think he would get into Spurs' team. He's obviously going to make mistakes, partly due to his own fault, partly due to some not so good teammates. He's probably in our best 2-3 players and this is in a team which is 9th in the league (we'd maybe be even higher if Tiote had played every game) so I think he could easily step up to top 6. I don't know what else he could do within our team to prove he was a top 6 player, he's been MOTM in almost every game he's played and has put in some amazing performances (including having Fabregas in his pocket, fit or not that's a hell of an achievement). Put some of the players from the top 6 teams in in our team and people would probably say they aren't top 6 standard players.

Arsenal. I thought they'd have a go in the second leg last year, but they didn't. Inter stayed deep, which can work, but you have to be lucky. The one thing that doesn't work is trying to pass through them in a compressed formation. If they want to get into a football match against them, managers will have to put trust in their players rather than their plans. Arsenal tried to beat them at their own game that was the problem. The first 30 at the Emirates was one of the most one sided periods of play you'll ever see. In the second leg Arsenal pretty much tried the same again and failed miserably. There isn't a midfield in the world that can out-pass Xavi and Iniesta.

Guardiola's combined record against Real Barcelona 16-2 Real Madrid

That's what folk said about George Foreman, nobody can go toe-to-toe. There's always an Ali out there, someone who can take the punches and deliver one right when it matters. Probably a Lampard + Essien driven Chelsea, if anyone. But the chances are slim. Hmm...slim indeed.